How to Protect Your Wallet and Your Business From Deepfake Scams This Holiday Season

As the holiday season kicks off, retailers and consumers are gearing up for big discounts, loyalty perks, and record online shopping. Unfortunately, fraudsters are gearing up too.

Deepfakes and generative AI are no longer just an online curiosity, they’re becoming a real threat in retail. From fake return claims to voice impersonation scams, the line between real and fake is getting harder to see with the human eye (or ear).

1. Consumers Aren’t the Only Ones at Risk Anymore

For years, consumers have been able to spot scams by looking out for bad grammar, weird domain names, and suspicious email senders.

Those signals still matter, but they’re no longer enough.

Generative AI tools like Nano Banana Pro now make it easy for anyone to manipulate images and videos in seconds. That means it’s not just shoppers who are at risk, retailers and e-commerce platforms are now prime targets.

2. Scams Consumers Should Watch Out For

Holiday season means great deals, but also great opportunities for scammers. Before you click or buy:

• “Too good to be true” offers: If an email says you’re about to miss the greatest deal of your life, pause. Go directly to the retailer’s website instead of clicking the link in the email.
• Fake missed delivery notifications: Watch for messages claiming you missed a delivery and need to “update” your payment or address. Always verify through the official courier or retailer site.
• Suspicious new retail sites: Before entering your credit card details on a website you’ve never used, check the domain name carefully, search online to confirm it’s a legitimate business and avoid clicking links from untrusted sources.

A few extra seconds of checking can save you from a stolen identity or drained account.

3. New Deepfake Scams Targeting Retailers

This season, customers aren’t the only targets, retailers are, too.

3.1. Fake Return and Damage Claims

With tools like Nano Banana Pro, it’s possible to create highly convincing fake “evidence” for return and damage claims.

A user received a tray of eggs with only one egg cracked. With a single prompt, “add more cracks”, they turned the image into a tray where every egg appeared damaged.

Now imagine that same trick applied to:

• Electronics with “cracked” screens
• Clothing with “stains”
• Furniture with “scratches”

Without proper detection, these fake claims can scale quickly and quietly eat into your margins.

3.2. Voice Impersonation Scams

Today’s generative AI can recreate someone’s voice using as little as three seconds of audio.

That means fraudsters can:

• Pretend to be a manager calling to approve an unusual refund or system change
• Impersonate a customer demanding urgent account updates or credit adjustments

If your team takes action based purely on a phone call or voicemail, you’re exposed.

Best practices for retailers:

• Don’t make system or policy changes based on a single call.
• Verify high-impact requests (large refunds, account changes, policy overrides) via a second channel: internal chat, official email, or a known callback number.
• Train staff to treat “urgent” and “emotional” calls as potential red flags, not reasons to bypass checks.

4. Why Human Detection Isn’t Enough Anymore

Generative AI has reached a point where:

• Images can be edited with photorealistic precision
• Voices can mimic accents, tone, and speaking style
• Videos can be altered without obvious artifacts

Expecting employees or customers to reliably spot these fakes with the naked eye is no longer realistic.

That’s why integrating deepfake detection into your existing workflows is no longer a “nice to have”, it’s becoming essential.

5. How to Protect Yourself This Season

For Consumers:

• Be skeptical of urgency and pressure in messages (“last chance,” “act now,” “you’re going to lose this deal”).
• Go directly to the retailer’s website instead of clicking links in emails or texts.
• Double-check domains, especially for unfamiliar brands.
• Avoid sharing payment details over links that arrived unexpectedly.

For Retailers & E-Commerce Teams:

• Flag high-risk workflows: refund claims, damage evidence, account changes, policy overrides, and manager approvals.
• Add verification steps for large or unusual refunds, high-value returns with photo/voice “evidence”, and calls requesting system or process changes.
• Train frontline staff about deepfakes and voice impersonation.
• Adopt automated tools that can analyze images, videos, and audio for signs of manipulation.

6. Where Cyberette Comes In

At Cyberette, we’re building a fraud detection platform that helps teams see exactly where digital manipulation occurs.

You can integrate Cyberette into your workflow to:

• Verify refund and damage claim images before approving returns
• Analyze voice interactions for signs of impersonation
• Reduce fraud losses without slowing down genuine customers

As deepfakes become cheaper and more convincing, the cost of not verifying will only grow.

This holiday season, don’t leave it to instinct. Bring deepfake detection into your stack, and make every decision based on verified reality, not just a convincing fake.

Have questions? Reach out at info@cyberette.ai